Comments from people with no kids

[2boyzmama]

I have a coworker--who's really nice--that doesn't have any kids. She likes kids, always plays with mine when I bring them to the office, but she is obviously wrapped up in her single/childless world. She just.has.no.clue!!

For example...she came in this morning and said something about not sleeping well last night, her elderly dog had to go outside twice overnight.

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!

TWICE?? And only to let the dog out? It took all of 30 seconds each time! And even if she takes a while to go back to sleep, that hardly constitutes a bad night!!

I went to bed at 11pm...Gavin got up at 2:45am and I sat up to nurse him, dozed off, woke up at 3:45 and passed him off to my hubby. Then Gavin woke up just before my alarm at 5:20am. I fed him, pumped, left the house just after 6am to go to the gym, and got to work just before 8am.

That is a very typical night for me, sometimes I go to bed a little earlier, but almost never before 10pm. And sometimes Connor wakes up once in there and I have to get up to nurse him, too.

So yeah...I literally laughed in her face!! (in a funny friendly way, not rudely)

[KayleeZoo]

This always gets me, too. Or someone will say, "I stayed up till 2 watching movies. I'm SO tired today!" When I have a nb, I go to bed as soon as I get the other kids in bed- definately by 8:30. I just can't handle the sleep deprivation and it's bad enough going to bed early and still getting up several times a night.

I also get peeved by comments made by people with just one or 2 kids who are always saying how hard it is to chase them around Really? 2 is making you crazy? Try 4 and having some of them in school where you HAVE to be out the door at a certain time in the morning. A friend has her girls in daycare (they call it school) and she is late every day getting there- and she only has a toddler and a 6mo- and complains loudly to everyone who will listen about having to get 2 kids ready, plus herself. I'm on my own on school mornings 3 days out of 5- and my big girls still need help doing their hair It's a madhouse around here then.

[darcytrue]

I get this in my own house. DH doesn't sleep well, never has, so I sleep in another bedroom in the house with DD for now, but only because DH has to wake up at 4am to get ready to leave for work at 6am. But I hate it when DH complains about waking up all night or waking up too early. He only has to worry about himself all night.

I think about all the years when I would stay up late and go out with friends or just stay up watching movies...whatever. Seemed easy to stay up late back then. Totally different when another person is keeping me up. :yawning

[StrongFeather]

Before I had Sam I was always marveling at my friends comments on Facebook or whatever about how poorly they slept, or the comment all us first timers get "Sleep NOW (in the 3rd tri) while you still can!!!"

Let's just say now I get it, oh boy, do I get it! Wow.

We are on hard core sleep inducing mode around these parts.. but this is a typical night lately:

Get Sam upstairs to bed by 8pm..
Read to him, Nurse Lay with him until asleep, 9pm if I am lucky
Up 12am maybe 1am if it's a *good* night
then proced to be up every 2 hours like clock work
DH's alarm goes off at 5:15
by 5:40 he's up to say goodbyes and give a kiss
Sam usually will have gas pains (though it's getting better) and be hard to settle
back asleep by 6:30am
sleep until 7:30-8am (again if we are lucky!)

My goal is to try and start getting him ready for bed by 7pm, or evem 6:30 as to get this whole process working earlier.

[MichelleAnnette]

I think when we are in different stages of life, different things seem difficult. It doesn't make one person's "difficulty" better than another person's. There have been so many things that seem easy now that were once hard. There are things I haven't experienced yet that seem impossible, yet I know I will get to it someday.

[turtlemamameg]

Originally Posted by MichelleAnnette

I think when we are in different stages of life, different things seem difficult. It doesn't make one person's "difficulty" better than another person's. There have been so many things that seem easy now that were once hard. There are things I haven't experienced yet that seem impossible, yet I know I will get to it someday.

Very wise, mama. Well said!

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by MichelleAnnette

I think when we are in different stages of life, different things seem difficult. It doesn't make one person's "difficulty" better than another person's. There have been so many things that seem easy now that were once hard. There are things I haven't experienced yet that seem impossible, yet I know I will get to it someday.

oh absolutely! it's just amusing to see the change in perspective! and she's a friend, i would never laugh at someone i didn't know their circumstances

[2xy]

Hmm. Here's a different perspective.

Kids eventually sleep through the night. Dogs who have urinary incontinence usually get worse with age, not better. Our dog (who departed this world in September) got me up 2-4 times a night for the last three years of his life. Not only that, but he was only 5 lbs. That means that in the dead of winter, I would have to dress him to go out, and also often shovel a snow-free patch of grass for him to do his business on.

And I was in my early 20's when my kids were born. It's different when you're approaching 40.

[ElliesMomma]

i got my two kids christmas pictures taken at babies r us, and the lady selling the photo packages wasn't very good -- she was disinterested and complained about having to get up at 6 am. i didn't say anything but i thought, well i haven't slept more than 2 or 3 hours at a time in months, and i'm up at 6 every day, as well as at 3 am, and midnight, and, etc. etc.

but to the point of your co-worker with having to let the dog out, this can be a true PITA, and you would not even realize it unless you have lived the experience yourself (shoe on the other foot, as you complained that she hasn't experienced having kids). our elderly golden retriever would bark bark bark bark bark bark, my husband sleeps like a log, and i would have to get out of bed to let her out, every night, usually around 2 am. it took way more than 30 seconds, because once the dog is out (and she was slow moving, so getting her out the door, and watching her go down the steps was several minutes alone) -- she would lay in the grass and bark bark bark bark bark bark bark. now i couldn't just leave her loose outside the rest of the night, so i had to wait it out for her to come back to the door. sometimes this took a half hour or more. i was pregnant, as this was happening last spring, for months on end. sometimes i was so tired i would lay back down in bed, but always listening for her "i'm ready to come back in bark." (and all the while worrying b/c we have packs of coyotes in our area, and the dog was so old she was a sitting duck to them). and after letting her back in, she would sleep awhile, but wake up and bark bark bark bark bark again at 5 am, needing to go out and repeat the same scenario. our dog passed away in june, and my mom said it was a blessing that it happened before the new baby was born, i guess so b/c add that together with getting up for DS (and DD, who is 3.5 but since the baby was born, now waking up several times overnight as well)... i would be getting no sleep at all.

frankly, i'll take nursing DS over letting the dog out in terms of ease.